text:
Floral displays, such as the color, shape, size, and arrangement of flowers, are typically thought to have evolved primarily in response to selection by pollinators—for animal-pollinated species, being able to attract animal vectors is vital to an individual plant's reproductive success. But can herbivores also exert similarly strong selective forces on floral characters? New research on two sister species in South Africa suggests that this may indeed be the case for inflorescence architecture in the rat's tail plant, Babiana ringens. By modifying the primary location of its floral display in response to pressure from mammalian herbivores, B. ringens may have not only reduced floral herbivory, but may also have enhanced pollination by providing a specialized perch for its principal pollinator.
Endemic to the Cape region of South Africa, Babiana ringens produces bright red flowers that are situated close to the ground on an unusual inflorescence axis that protrudes above the floral display. Its primary pollinator, the malachite sunbird, is attracted to the flower's red color and abundant nectar—the color, shape (tubular), and size of the flowers indicates that these characters likely evolved in response to sunbirds. In previous research, Bruce Anderson (University of Stellenbosch, South Africa) and colleagues discovered that the protruding modified inflorescence axis serves as a perch for sunbirds, allowing them to turn upside down in a perfect position to access nectar and facilitate pollination.
In Babiana ringens, the inflorescence axis is modified such that growth of the apical side branches is suppressed and flowers are only produced on a single branch at the ground level. A close sister species, B. hirsuta, exhibits similar inflorescence morphology, except that flowers are produced on side branches all along the stalk and not just at the base.
Caroli de Waal, a graduate student at the University of Toronto, was intrigued by how the bird perch in B. ringens may have originated. This required determining the potential selective forces responsible for influencing the inflorescence architecture in the two Babiana species. Based on field observations, De Waal and colleagues investigated whether herbivory might have played a role in the evolution of this unique bird perch. Their findings were recently published in the American Journal of Botany (http://www.amjbot.org/content/early/2012/05/10/ajb.1100295.full.pdf+html).
"It is hard not to be curious about the origin of the curious rat's tail of Babiana ringens, which is unique in the flowering plants," commented Anderson.
"We noticed that in populations of the sister species, B. hirsuta, many plants had suffered damage from herbivores, with the upper portions of the stems completely eaten off," De Waal noted. "We then started to wonder: what if herbivory could contribute to selection for the floral display in B. ringens?"
Given the close phylogenetic relatedness of these species and their similar floral morphologies and pollinators, De Waal and colleagues hypothesized that the specialized bird perch in B. ringens may have originated from a B. hirsuta-like ancestor through reduction in the production of the side branches. This could happen if mammalian herbivores preferentially eat apical flowers and left the basal flowers alone.
Indeed, when De Waal and co-authors compared herbivory rates in three B. hirsuta and three B. ringens populations, they found much higher levels of herbivore damage to B. hirsuta---as much as 53% of the inflorescences were eaten. Moreover, they found that Cape grysbok (the primary herbivore) mostly grazed the top parts of inflorescences, leaving the basal parts to continue flowering. In comparison, herbivory in B. ringens was much lower and the ground-level flowers were never eaten.
To further test their idea, De Waal and colleagues conducted a field experiment with B. hirsuta in which they manipulated flower position along the stalk – they removed side branches in plants so that they displayed either flowers only at the top or only at the bottom of the stems (the latter resembling the display of B. ringens). Using cages, they then excluded herbivores from half of the treatments.
"Our most important result," De Waal stated, "is that flowers at the tips of stems were eaten by browsing antelope, whereas flowers at ground-level were consistently ignored." Notably, this was even the case for plants that were not protected from herbivores by cages, yet were manipulated to have only ground-level flowers.
"Significantly, plants with only ground-level flowers produced more seeds," she said. "This means that plants that manage to escape damage by herbivores also have higher reproductive success, and this may be the reason why B. ringens evolved its unusual ground-level flowers."
Moreover, Anderson adds, "The overwhelming herbivore preference for plants with only apical flowers indicates why plants like B. ringens, with basal flowers, could have evolved while plants with only apical flowers would be maladapted."
"Our results indicate that in addition to pollinators, herbivores can also be important selective agents on inflorescence architecture," concluded Anderson. "This is significant because most scientists have attributed variation in floral display to selection by pollinators and the importance of herbivores is often forgotten."
Caroli de Waal, Spencer C. H. Barrett, and Bruce Anderson. 2012. The effect of mammalian herbivory on inflorescence architecture in ornithophilous Babiana (Iridaceae): Implications for the evolution of a bird perch. American Journal of Botany 99(6): 1096-1103. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1100295
The full article in the link mentioned is available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this summary at http://www.amjbot.org/content/early/2012/05/10/ajb.1100295.full.pdf+html. After this date, reporters may contact Richard Hund at firstname.lastname@example.com for a copy of the article.
The Botanical Society of America (www.botany.org) is a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. It has published the American Journal of Botany (www.amjbot.org) for nearly 100 years. In 2009, the Special Libraries Association named the American Journal of Botany one of the Top 10 Most Influential Journals of the Century in the field of Biology and Medicine.
For further information, please contact the AJB staff at email@example.com.
American Journal of Botany


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We are constantly being asked by pond owners for advice about how to deal with the problem of algae carpets on the water surface. These green, almost foamy carpets either float like little algae islands on the water surface or gather around the edge of the pond like green lace.
These are green algae and they need to be treated the same way as the more familiar thread algae. Phosphate deposits allow them to grow and then they trap air to float on the water surface (article tip: Algae in Sight: Pollen and Blossoms as Growth Engines ).
Because these algae are easier to reach than many other types of algae, the starting point is ideal. Instead of treating the algae with an anti-algae agent (which would mean releasing the bound nutrients into the water) the layers can be mechanically removed with a catch net or a sludge suction cleaner. This way not only the algae but also the absorbed nutrients in them will disappear from your pond.
Should there be thread algae or other patches of green algae in the deeper water zones, you can sprinkle this area directly with JBL AlgoPond Direct . The algae will decompose within a few minutes. Stubborn areas need to be treated again at intervals of 48 hours. You can net a part of the dead algae off the water surface. Firmly anchored algae will die off under water. They won't float upwards, but will become greyish and become broken down by bacteria.
Don't forget to bind the released nutrients afterwards with JBL PhosExPond Direct (please take the carbonate hardness into account) to avoid to shifting the problem and ending up with floating algae.

subset: commoncrawl


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Monday, December 18, 2006
Chocottone is a panettone that has chocolate chips instead of glacéed fruits. I love it. But my dear friend Valentina says that "chocottone" is a word that makes her laugh... :D
I used cellophane bags, because the minicake boxes I had at home weren't the right size... If you decide to do it, too, wrap and deliver them right away - the heat inside the bags will make the fondant melt and your pretty decoration won't last...
I took a class about chocolate once (sponsored by a big chocolate company) and got the recipe there. If you want more recipes with chocolate, visit this site.
60g fresh yeast, crumbled
3 tablespoons sugar
200ml lukewarm milk
2 eggs
240g all purpose flour
150g butter, softened
80g sugar
4 egg yolks
1 egg
3 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon spices (cinnamon + nutmeg)
2 tablespoons rum - I used 1 tablespoon brandy
500g all purpose flour
300g semisweet chocolate chips
Make the sponge: in a large bowl, mixture yeast and sugar, then add milk, eggs and flour. Cover with plastic and let it rise for 30 minutes.
Beat butter, sugar, egg yolks, egg, honey, oil, spices and rum until you get a dense cream. Add this mixture to the sponge and gradually add the flour. Knead until dough becomes uniform - mine was very sticky, so I added 50g flour.
Cover with plastic and let it rise again for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough on a floured surface and sprinkle the chocolate chips. Roll it, divide it into 3 equal parts, form balls and place each one of them in paper panettone molds. Let it rise for 10 minutes - mine rose for 30, since I was making cookie dough and couldn't take my hands off it. :D
16 comments:
Those are beautiful! What a lovely treat.
- December 18, 2006
These look delicious! I am crazy for panettones. Chocottone sounds even better! My parents always bring a huge one for me whenever they visit Italy and I keep eating it for months. Funny how these keep for so long..
- December 19, 2006
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Kristen, tks!! I'm anxious to know if the kids I sent them to liked them as well.
Hi, Cenk, how lovely to have you here! Thank you for your comment.
The store bought panettones/chocottones have a good shelf life, you're right. These don't last that long, but you can keep them for about 1 week (if well wrapped). - December 19, 2006
oh I love the name of chocottone! I'm not a kid, but still would love someone giving this lovely cake to me!
I used to make panettone last two years, because I enjoyed making bread by hand. I remember my dough was very sticky too. But your recipe looks very good, I'll keep in mind to come back again! Too bad the stores here don't sell the paper mold that you're using. - December 19, 2006
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Gattina, I love the name chocottone too - I love everything that has chocolate. ;D
I love making dough, too, so that's why I'm always looking for yeasted breads and stuff (except now, that I'm on a diet).
I'm glad you liked it, it's pretty easy, too! - December 19, 2006
now you're really tempting me! I miss making yeast cake/bread so much! Ok, I think I can spare some time to do it this week. In the meantime may I know the bottom width (diameter) of your 500g chocottone? Since I got to search for a similar baking tray.
Pat, your fondant deco looks excellent, I have no skill on that, but your delicious chocottone is enough to make me fly to the sky! :D - December 19, 2006
- janelle said...
I cannot believe I waited this long to try panettone and now it looks like I should try chocottone too! Such a fun word to say, again and again.
My kiddos will easily prefer the chocolate chips to the dried fruit! - December 19, 2006
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Gattina, I love working with yeast (especially fresh yeast). Kneading is like therapy for me. lol
The paper mold is 13cm (round base) and 11cm (height).
I'm so glad you liked my recipe, since everything you make is always so beautiful!
Hi, Janelle, welcome! I love the word too, I think it makes you want to eat it ever more! :D - December 21, 2006
- T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types said...
I've never tried panatone. Your look absolutely lovely -- I like the different sizes, and the fondant decoration is beautiful.
- December 21, 2006
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Hi, T.W.,
thank you! This dough is pretty simple to make, but the effect is really good. - December 21, 2006
- Gattina Cheung said...
Oh Pat,
so much I want to give you a BIG hug now!!! Eventually I found a friend who love making bread by hand!!! I mean, sometimes I really just want to get a bread machine and forget everything (you know those busy days...)... I still haven't bought a machine, still find the enjoyment(yes, very therapeutic!). Thanks for the info and it's very helpful Pat! - December 21, 2006
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Gattina, I grew up eating homemade bread (at least until I was 10, that's when my father married again and his wife wasn't much of a cook). I love it!!
I'm glad to hear it from you - I'm such a big fan of yours! - December 22, 2006
- Gattina Cheung said...
I've made the chocottones, they had wonderful flavor!
But on the texture I failed... the dough was very very sticky as you said. But since I was curious how they turned out if without adding extra flour, so I kept an half dough for adding 50g extra flour, the other half without extra flour. Both were still impossible to knead, so I stirred them as long as I could. The bread rised nicely, inside was soft and tender, only thing missing was shreds and shreds of gluten that normally accomplished by kneading. Pat, will you suggest me adding even more flour? Could you knead by hand that time? I'm still happy on the overall result, especially it's my first try, I believe they'll be better when I do it again :D - January 06, 2007
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Dear Gattina, I'm so sad because the recipe didn't work out for you! :(
Some of my friends who live abroad always tell me that the flour here in Brazil is different, may be that's the problem. Sometimes, when I bake foreign bread recipes, I have to add more flour, too.
I was able to knead by hand because I added more flour, because when I looked inside the bowl I thought - oh, my, this is never going to be firm enough to knead!
The only recipe I've ever tried making without adding more flour was the pizza dough - all the others I had to do so. Here you'll find a picture of the recipe, htne you'll be able to check the texture:
I hope this is helpful. Please, let me know if you need anything else. I feel bad about it! - January 07, 2007
- Gattina Cheung said...
Oh Pat, please don't feel bad! When I try any recipe, I always prepare for 2nd round anyway (even come out right I tend to make some adjustment to suit my own taste). And that sticky dough didn't mad me at all! I'm happy they rised nicely and taste good. Thanks for your advice and more photo links, I certainly will give it one more try in the future.
Pat, you're right on different flours. In my local area, even different brands behave differently too. Thanks, I'll pay more attention on that! *hug* - January 07, 2007
- Nora B. said...
Patricia, I am just looking through your sweet archives...wow, you have so many great recipes... This is such a great gift idea! I hope I can find paper panettone molds here. And I won't even wait for Christmas to make this because it's cold enough in Sydney now to pretend that it's Christmas. We sometimes celebrate "Christmas in July" ;-)
- June 26, 2007


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Wet/Dry Pool Bag
By Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever
Future Craft Collective
We spent last week at the pool, trying out our super fun pool toss game. And since it's been hovering in the low 100s for about a week straight now, you can pretty much rest assured that anytime we are outside, we will pretty much be near water, be it pool, cold springs, or in the river. And when so much time is spent lugging stuff to and from the water's edge, you definitely need a way to keep your dry stuff dry and separated from the wet stuff.
This week while I packed up a family of six for a summer vacation, Kathie worked her magic in the studio. After a trip to the thrift store and a couple of hours in the studio, she emerged with this sweet bag, the perfect combination of form and function — upcycled and super styling too.
2 mesh athletic jerseys, one of them sleeveless Think shiny, polyester, basketball uniform.
Sewing machine
Really, that's all you need. And you've most likely got 3 of the 4 just sitting there waiting for some action so what are you waiting for?
Step 1: On the sleeveless shirt, cut off the top of the shirt going straight across. The cut should be a couple of inches above the bottom of the armhole. You now have a sort of rectangle looking piece, with a slight indent at the top of each side.
Step 2: From the other jersey, cut off 6 narrow 2″×16″ strips and 4 wide 2½"×22″ ones. The length of these will be cut vertically from the neck of the shirt to the tail.
Step 3: Next, make the 4 wide strips into 2 long strips by sewing them together at the short end (they'll be 2½"×44″ when joined). These will be the straps for your bag.
Step 4: Fold these long straps in half, good sides facing, and sew them up the long side, leaving one end open.
Step 5: Match each of the shorter strips together, good sides facing. Sew them together on one short end and down the long side.
Step 6: Turn the strips right side out and press with a low iron. You now have 3 short straps and 2 long straps.
Step 7: Cut a large rectangle (your pocket) out from the other jersey. Ours measured 10″×12″.
Step 8: Press under the sides of the rectangle (as shown above), about ¼" on each side.
Step 9: Pin the pocket onto the middle of the other jersey. As you are pinning the bottom of the pocket, fold one of the smaller straps in half lengthwise and pin it in place sticking out of the bottom of the pocket.
Step 10: Fold over the top of your jersey about 1″ and sew it shut, creating a loop through which to feed the straps.
Step 11: Feed one of the longer straps through one side of the top loops and out the other. Feed the other strap through and out the opposite way.
Step 12: Insert and pin the remaining 2 shorter straps into the bottom of the bag and have the straps stick out of the jersey. Pin the bottom shut.
Step 13: Turn the jersey inside out so that all your straps are now inside the bag.
Step 14: The straps that are fed through the top of your bag will serve as both closure at the top of your bag and as backpack-style straps to carry your bag. Stick about ½" of these straps into the bottom of your bag and pin into place.
Step 15: Sew the bottom of your bag shut going over it a couple times to give it strength.
Turn your bag right side out. Tie your towel and wet suit up with the straps. Put your pool toys and other gear inside. You are ready to go in high summertime style!
Come back next week for more Future Craft Collective fun. And in the meantime, have a good time at the pool.
About the Authors:
Future Craft Collective is brought to you by Kathie Sever and Bernadette Noll. Kathie is an accomplished seamstress, creator of Ramonsterwear Custom Western Wear, artist, and mother of two. Bernadette is a writer, co-founder of Slow Family Living, and mother of four. They have found renewed energy in their collaboration and are continuously amazed by the ideas, inspiration, and a-ha moments that have come from this shared effort.
Join Make: Community Today


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A personal web server. Today, almost any Linux user has one. Some folks do really serve content with them; others use it for development of PHP or CGI programs. Others like me just have it to read the documentation via the browser and to play with it. I decided that running the Apache web server is overkill for my personal applications. Currently I have access to a CGI and PHP capable provider so I do not need support for these on my own machine. Just plain serving of files without having to run a huge Apache binary in background.
As a result, I decided to drop running my own Apache web server in favor of having a simple micro web server that only answers requests when there are any. It saves me some disk space and RAM, although that wasn't really a significant factor since my computer has plenty of capacity. Mostly I wanted to play around with new software and nifty small but usable solutions.
Just a few ordinary things, nothing involving PHP or CGI:
This leads to another important thing: at least some sort of directory indexing must be supported by the web server. That is, if the final URL component is a directory, redirect to that directory (add the final slash), then serve up the index.html in that directory. (The redirect is important so that relative links on the page will function correctly.) Although this can be done with automated scripts run by cronjobs. But I prefer a simple builtin solution. It doesn't have to be as complex as the Apache indexing function although that one is very nice indeed.
In short: I can use almost any web server that supports the http protocol but it doesn't need many fancy features.
In fact no. All of these can be accomplished by symlinking external pieces into the web server's root directory. No need for "Alias" directives or other complicated options. Just the web server root and I'm happy. Perhaps customizing the port the web server listens on.
But nothing more. A simple command line like this one should be sufficient for my purpose: "binary /path/to/webserver/root".
I decided to use a TCP wrapper solution. The web server binary gets only called when there really is a request. No need to mess around with init scripts. Just a simple line in /etc/inetd.conf and off we go.
However such a solution is not very performant. In fact, if you plan to have more than a few sporadic accesses to your server, go for a standalone server that runs all the time.
Beside a few really awkward solutions ( there are web servers written in Java, bash or awk out there), I decided to go for a compilable solution.
I found a web server called micro_httpd at http://www.acme.com/software/micro_httpd/. This one is written in plain C, takes just around 150 lines of code and does exactly what I want. Runnable from TCP wrapper, no CGI nor PHP, plain serving of files with indexing capability.
I just added a few more mime types in the code and it worked out of the box.
Grab the sources of micro_http and unpack them.
Become root and edit /etc/initd.conf with your favorite editor. Add a line
http stream tcp nowait wwwrun /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/local/sbin/micro_httpd /var/httpd/wwwroot/to it and restart the Internet super-server inetd.
On my SuSE 7.2 Linux, I type "/etc/init.d/inetd restart" as root.
Make sure to substitute "/var/httpd/wwwroot/ in the example above with the correct path to your new document root.
Substitute the wwwrun with any valid user account, preferably one that has almost no rights on the system for security reasons.
Now try it out: put a few html files in your new WWW root and make them readable by the user account specified. Then point your favorite browser to http://localhost/. You should get either an automated index or your index.html file.
Got this far? Great, your small and micro web server is up and running.
Note:The TCP wrapper does log all connects to the server to /var/log/messages. But don't expect a complete Apache-style log from it. Just plain lines like this:
micro_httpd[886]: connect from x.x.x.x (x.x.x.x)However with knowledge of the http protocol and the code it should be possible to code an advanced logging facility. I leave that one up to you.
In general, any web server that can be run from inetd can be setup like this one. So look around at Freshmeat.
If your needs are as simple as that, it takes a few minutes to switch from Apache to such a minimalistic solution.
It works pretty good although I'm aware that this solution will fail if there are too many requests. For a simple personal web server without heavy traffic it should be sufficient.
At least I'm a bit happier now. Decide - perhaps such a solution would suit your needs as well?
[There's also Tux, a micro web server in a Linux kernel module. It works similar to micro_http, and can chain to a bulkier web server for URLs it can't handle (e.g., CGI scripts). But note that Tux and micro_http serve different niches. Tux is for high-traffic sites that serve lots of simple files (e.g., images) and must keep per-request overhead low to avoid overloading the system. micro_http via inetd is for sites with light web traffic, where the greater overhead of running a separate process for each request is overshadowed by the no overhead at all when there are no requests. Of course, both micro_http and Tux serve a third niche: nifty small usable solutions you can play with. Or as LG contributing editor Dan Wilder would say, "small sharp tools that each do one thing well in the honorable UNIX toolbox tradition."For more information about Tux, see Red Hat's Tux 2.1 manual. I thought Tux was in the standard kernel but I can't find it in 2.4.17, so you'll have to look around for it. -Iron.]


text:
The following obituaries were received for Monday –
Robert Wayne Nikirk – Bedford
Robert Wayne Nikirk, 88, of Bedford, died at 12:10 a.m. Saturday at St. Vincent Dunn Hospital.
Robert was born Sept. 25, 1923 in Silverville, he was the son of William Henry and Ona , Louise (Turner) Nikirk. He married Phyllis Jackson, on Nov. 10, 1946 and she survives.
Robert was a dispatcher for IRC&D Trucking in Richmond, retiring in 1983. He was a 1942 graduate of Fayetteville High School. He was a member of Sugar Grove Methodist Church, in Dunkirk, IN.
Surviving are his wife, Phyllis, of Bedford; two sons, Alan and his wife Nelda Nikirk, of Bedford, and Philip and his wife Marcia Nikirk, of Anderson; three daughters Nancy Nikirk, of Ft. Wayne, Clara Shaw, of Redkey, IN., Sara Nikirk, of Bedford; 11 grandchildren; 6 great grandchildren; three brothers, Morris and his wife Virginia Nikirk, of Long Island NY., Paul and his wife Peggy Nikirk, of Fayetteville, James and his wife Ann, of Bloomington; two sisters, Wanetta and her husband Kenny McCain, of Elizabethtown, Roseann and her husband Larry Bell, of Mitchell.
He was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, Merle Nikirk and one sister, Gail Feltner.
Private graveside services will be held at Owensburg Cemetery. There will be no calling hours. Ferguson-Lee Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.fergusonlee.com.
Mary Frances Ball – Mitchell
Mary Frances Ball, 89, Mitchell, passed away at 10:00 p.m. Saturday, November 19, 2011, at her residence.
Born May 8, 1922, in Indianapolis, she was the daughter of Lester and Della (Sanders)
Sloan. She married James Emil Ball and he preceded her in death in 1995.
She graduated from Mitchell High School in 1940. She and her husband both graduated
from Central Business College in Indianapolis, and met while traveling to Mitchell on
the weekends. They worked at Allisons and lived in Indianapolis for several years.
They resided in Mitchell for more than 60 years, operating a car business for 40 years. She was a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
Survivors are his children, Marcy Brooks, of Williams, James S. and his wife Connie Ball, of Hope; grandchildren, Mary Ann Waggoner, of Bloomington, Brian and his wife Kelly Waggoner, of Mitchell, James R. and his wife, Megan Brooks, of Bloomington,
Sloan K. Ball, of Hope; great grandchildren, Emily Waggoner and Thomas Waggoner, brother, Charles Sloan, of Linton, Robert Sloan, of Loogootee; sister, Dorothy Sears, of Ohio.
Preceding her in death were her parents; husband and sister Louis Stepp.
A private family graveside service will be on Tuesday at Mitchell Cemetery.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.chastainfuneralhome.com.


text:
Affiliation: Iowa State University
Margaret Mook is Associate Professor of Classical Studies with Iowa State University at Ames. A classicist and archaeologist, she received her degrees from The College of Wooster (B.A. in Greek) and the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis (M.A. and Ph.D. in Classics). Her research interests are Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, and Archaic Greece, and since 1984 she has conducted archaeological fieldwork on Crete. She is continuing her work in the Kavousi region of eastern Crete with a very exciting new archaeological project, a collaborative and interdisciplinary excavation of an Archaic site with early foundations. She has several articles forthcoming on work at Azoria, Crete, including her work there on Archaic houses


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CRIME AID | 10.23.2008 | 9/8c TV-PG
DUNDER MIFFLIN FIGHTS CRIME - OSCAR NOMINEE AMY RYAN ("GONE BABY GONE") GUEST STARS - Michael (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) helps Pam (Jenna Fischer) get a part time job at corporate so she can afford to go to art school. Michael and Holly (guest star Amy Ryan) get an early start at the office on their date night. After the office gets robbed, Michael decides to hold an auction to raise money for all the items lost. Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, B.J. Novak, Ed Helms, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, Angela Kinsey, Oscar Nunez, Creed Bratton and Craig Robinson also star.


text:
Note: This question is about TES IV: Oblivion, not Skyrim.
Can NPCs or non/semi-aquatic creatures (no 'Water Breathing' ability) drown? (Aquatic creatures have 'Water Breathing' as an ability.)
Also, regardless if they do drown or not, do they come up for air once they're underwater?
(I'm especially curious if this semi-aquatic creature drowns or not, and if it comes up for air..)


text:
Basically, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's entire job comes down to one question.
Can Yahoo, while she is in charge, come up with a new product that will save the company as its current big winners, Web email and the Yahoo.com front page, slowly decline?
Put analogously: Can Marissa Mayer pull off a Steve Jobs, who began turning Apple around by launching the bondi Blue iMac, and really made things work with the miraculous iPod?
Yahoo's board hired Mayer, and not her interim predecessor, Ross Levinsohn because it believes the answer to those questions was yes. Everyone agrees Levinsohn would would have eked lots of value of out of Yahoo's current businesses while he could. Mayer, the board believes, is the next Steve Jobs.
So why did Yahoo's board just make it harder for Mayer to come up with "Yahoo's iPod"?
(Yahoo's iPod, by the way, won't likely be a hardware product--it will be software. And it will probably be a bunch of products, all designed to make Yahoo and better content and advertising platform.)
Earlier this week, Yahoo sold off a huge portion of its stake in Chinese Internet company, Alibaba. Yahoo netted about $4.3 billion in the transaction, after taxes.
Even for a company as huge as Yahoo, $4.3 billion is a lot of money – money that could be put to use in lots of ways that would help Mayer come up with "Yahoo's iPod."
Just for a couple wild examples, Yahoo could, for example, use that money to build a smartphone, or even a gadget that disintermediates the smartphone the way Google Glass might. It could buy several startups that make popular mobile applications that have growing engagement with normal, non-techy Americans.
But instead of giving that $4.3 billion to Mayer to work with, Yahoo's board decided to pay a lot of the money out to shareholders.
What happened was, Yahoo announced that it would give $3.6 billion of that $4.3 billion to its shareholders.
This particular act of largesse happens to very much benefit one of Yahoo's biggest shareholders, hedge fund manager Dan Loeb, who, incidentally, was instrumental in bringing in Marissa Mayer as CEO.
Loeb happens to also be a Yahoo board member. In fact, by the accounts of several insiders, Loeb is doing the job that a board chairman does, even if that title actually belongs to another board member, Fred Amoroso.
Now, look.
There is nothing wrong – morally, ethically, strategically, legally – with Loeb and the Yahoo's board decision to return cash to shareholders. The move will still leave Mayer with more than $3 billion to work with, after the retained proceeds from the Alibaba sale are added to Yahooo's existing cash balance. That's not a lot of money compared to Google, Apple, and Facebook, but it's still a lot of cash for a ~$5 billion business.
Loeb got on the board after launching a proxy fight last fall and winning it in the Spring. He put a bunch of his allies on the board. It was a fair fight, and he won. To the victor go the spoils. A source who has talked to Loeb about this issues says that he has always planned for Yahoo to pay out its Alibaba profits to shareholders.
But it still seems odd that Loeb would make the short term cash grab and restrict Yahoo's flexibility. And Mayer might be feeling a little screwed over because of that lost flexibility. [Update: We are not under the impression that Mayer fought Loeb on this and lost. It's too early in her tenure for a fight like that, and in fact, a source tells us that she was on board with this decision.]
The silver lining for Mayer is that there is a way for her to add about another $2 billion to $3 billion to her cash pile by selling off Yahoo Japan and the rest of the Alibaba stake. But we'll save that for our next post. Stay with SAI for that.


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SDO_DAS_XML::saveString — Saves the SDO_DAS_XML_Document object to a string
Saves the SDO_DAS_XML_Document object to string.
SDO_DAS_XML_Document object.
Optional argument to specify that the xml should be formatted. A non-negative integer is the amount to indent each level of the xml. So, the integer 2, for example, will indent the xml so that each contained element is two spaces further to the right than its containing element. The integer 0 will cause the xml to be completely left-aligned. The integer -1 means no formatting - the xml will come out on one long line.
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This morning Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech that apparently was identified as proof that QE3 is still in the cards. He argues that while labor markets have shown improvement in recent months, conditions are far from normal. Moreover, he sees the problem of long-term unemployment as largely structural, and delivers what many believed to be the money quote:
I will argue today that, while both cyclical and structural forces have doubtless contributed to the increase in long-term unemployment, the continued weakness in aggregate demand is likely the predominant factor. Consequently, the Federal Reserve's accommodative monetary policies, by providing support for demand and for the recovery, should help, over time, to reduce long-term unemployment as well.
In my opinion, to interpret this as a call for additional quantitative easing is a bit of a stretch. It sounds like simply a confirmation that Bernanke believes the current policy stance is appropriate and that the existence of long-term unemployment should not be viewed as a reason to believe that we are closing in on a resource constraint that would necessitate a tightening of the policy stance. I was drawn to a much more nuanced section:
However, to the extent that the decline in the unemployment rate since last summer has brought unemployment back more into line with the level of aggregate demand, then further significant improvements in unemployment will likely require faster economic growth than we experienced during the past year. It will be especially important to evaluate incoming information to assess whether the recovery is picking up as improvements in the labor market feed through to consumer and business confidence; or, conversely, whether the headwinds that have impeded the recovery to date continue to restrain the pace at which the labor market and economic activity normalize.
In essence, Bernanke suggests that the recent rapid improvements in unemployment reflect largely a reversal of out-sized deterioration experienced during the recession. As such, we should not expect a slower pace of improvement given current growth forecasts. Under such conditions, I believe, Bernanke would push for another round of QE – although it stills begs the question of why he doesn't push for more now given the existing forecasts. But he hasn't, so we can only infer that he thinks the costs of additional easing outweigh the benefits.
He leaves open the possibility, however, that labor markets will continue to improve at the recent pace, in which I think QE3 is off the table. And that is where Federal Reserve President James Bullard steps in to the picture. He said pretty much the same thing in a CNBC interview:
"I think QE3 would require the economy to deteriorate somewhat from where it is right now," Bullard said. "The basic story on the U.S. economy is that we've had good news over the last six months or so, especially compared to the recession scenario that was being painted in the August-September time period of last year."
That said, this is somewhat softer language than he used in a speech last week:
But now, with the Committee on pause, it may be a good time to take stock of whether we may be at a turning point. Many of the further policy actions the Committee might consider at this juncture would have effects extending out for several years. As the U.S. economy continues to rebound and repair, those policy actions may create an overcommitment to ultra-easy monetary policy. The ultra-easy policy has been appropriate until now, but it will not always be appropriate.
The FOMC has often been criticized historically for overstaying policy stances that might have made sense at one juncture but are no longer appropriate as macroeconomic conditions change. This occurs in part because of the lags in the effects of policy, the difficulty in interpreting real-time data, much of which is subsequently revised, and the sheer uncertainty of macroeconomic developments. With numerous monetary policy actions still on the table, and others still affecting the economy with a lag, it may be especially difficult to remove policy accommodation at the appropriate pace and at the appropriate time. One may want to approach such a situation with caution.
This seems to suggest he is in fact entertaining the possibility that the turning point for policy will occur sooner than expected. My view is that the crux of any disagreement between Bullard and Bernanke is the timing of any tightening. Both would push for additional easing should conditions deteriorate. But Bernanke is willing to leave existing policy in place for well into the future, whereas Bullard is looking forward to pulling the trigger on tighter policy sooner than later.
This, by the way, is a debate Bernanke would win in the absence of clear indications that tightening is necessary.
Incredibly, in his CNBC interview, Bullard strays into the world of Japanese monetary policy:
"I think one of the biggest mistakes is continue to throw us much more in the way of monetary injections into the economy and with that, you get a much higher increase in commodity prices and potentially produce less global consumption across the world, which slows economic activity down," Bullard said. "I'm afraid that's the real danger just now – that we've maintained too loose of a policy right across the global economy and what results is inflation and reduction in real spending power."
I get this, I really do. But I have come to the conclusion that the Federal Reserve should not consider the reaction functions of other central banks when setting policy. Simply put, this is not the Fed's problem. To the extent that other nations import the Fed's monetary policy, they do so by choice. Bullard continues:
Bullard says he would like to see the Federal Reserve resume a "more normal monetary policy as soon as possible" because it has detrimental effects on the economy.
"It (the policy) punishes savers, for instance, in the economy, it does send a pessimistic signal about the economy and I think that can hurt investment prospects in the U.S.," Bullard said. "But we need to provide the right amount of support for the recovery as we do that, and we need to keep an eye on inflation."
Concerns that like the commodity price issue seem to mimic those of Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa. And we all know what about the wisdom of BoJ monetary policy.
Bottom Line: I do not think Bernanke's speech is a signal that QE3 is guaranteed. But it is a signal that QE3 is definitely not off the table. It is entirely data dependent. The current flow of data does not support additional action. I don't think it would take much of a deterioration to prompt additional action, so if you have a bearish view of the US economy, expect QE3. But if you have a bullish view, don't expect a rapid policy reversal. Bernanke isn't ready to go there.
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Clearfield, Utah – iCOOLgeeks today has just released the first 20 levels of Zeus Ball for the iPad, for Free on Apple's Appstore. Zeus Ball is their new physics based puzzle game. In Zeus Ball, Medusa is wreaking havoc on the country side by turning innocents into stone. With a lack of heroes in the land, Zeus has trusted you to save the day. Your only weapon is the mighty Zeus Ball. Using simple TAP controls to direct the flight of the Zeus Ball, you must destroy the blocks, save the Princess, and become the hero. Use your cunning wit combined with the various powers of the elemental blocks; earth, fire, ice, air, stone, poison, and warp to solve the ever increasingly difficult puzzles.
This is the first of several versions of the game to be released. Zeus Ball is scheduled to be released on Mac later this month, as well as iPhone, iPod touch, and Android for the Kindle and Nook devices later this quarter or early second quarter. Zeus Ball is the thirtieth iOS app released by iCOOLgeeks, but it will be the first app they have released in almost a year. With the ever increasing competition in the mobile app space, iCOOLgeeks took a whole new ground-up approach to the development of their latest game, Zeus Ball. The graphics, gameplay, and overall quality of their latest project stands high, proving that small indy development studios can compete with the big publishing houses.
Device Requirements:
* Compatible with iPad
* Requires iOS 4.2 or later
Pricing and Availability:
Zeus Ball 1.0 is Free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.
Zeus Ball 1.0
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iCOOLgeeks is a development firm specializing in applications for the IOS, Mac, and Android devices. Copyright (C) 2009-2012 iCOOLgeeks. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.


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The World Health Organization recommends that youth participate in a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each day. Studies have shown that youth experience most of their MVPA during school hours. Therefore, it stands to reason that increasing outdoor time after school hours would increase MVPA. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers confirmed that time spent outdoors after school was positively associated with MVPA.
Drs. Lee Schaefer and Jonathan McGavock, along with colleagues at the University of Alberta, studied 306 youths (9-17 years of age) enrolled in the Healthy Hearts Prospective Cohort Study of Physical Activity and Cardiometabolic Health. During the winter and spring of the 2008/2009 academic year, participants wore an accelerometer and completed an online survey that included a self-report of time spent outdoors after school, including organized activities and free play.
The results showed that youth who reported that they did not spend time outdoors after school (17%) achieved 21 fewer minutes of MVPA daily, with an additional 70 minutes per day of sedentary behavior compared with those who reported spending most of their time outdoors after school (39%). In general, youth who spent most of their time outdoors after school were three times more likely to meet guidelines for daily physical activity and had significantly higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels than their peers who did not spend time outdoors; the positive effects of outdoor activity held true even in the winter months.
Although this study found that 34% of youth achieved the recommended 60 minutes of MVPA each day, more work is needed. These findings support calls for promoting outdoor activities as a means of increasing MVPA in youth. Because youth spend a substantial amount of time in school, school wellness policies should include plans designed to increase outdoor activity. According to Dr. Schaefer, "Schools and parents should consider structured time outdoors for children in an effort to boost physical activity levels and enhance [cardiorespiratory] fitness."


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On December 4, 1875, Rainer Maria Rilke was born in Prague, the only child of an unhappy marriage. Rilke's childhood was also unhappy; his parents placed him in military school with the desire that he become an officer—a position Rilke was not inclined to hold. With the help of his uncle, who realized that Rilke was a highly gifted child, Rilke left the military academy and entered a German preparatory school. By the time he enrolled in Charles University in Prague in 1895, he knew that he would pursue a literary career: he had already published his first volume of poetry, Leben und Lieder, the previous year. At the turn of 1895-96, Rilke published his second collection, Larenopfer (Sacrifice to the Lares). A third collection, Traumgekrönt (Dream-Crowned) followed in 1896. That same year, Rilke decided to leave the university for Munich, Germany, and later made his first trip to Italy.
In 1897, Rilke went to Russia, a trip that would prove to be a milestone in Rilke's life, and which marked the true beginning of his early serious works. While there the young poet met Tolstoy, whose influence is seen in Das Buch vom lieben Gott und anderes (Stories of God), and Leonid Pasternak, the nine-year-old Boris's father. At Worpswede, where Rilke lived for a time, he met and married Clara Westhoff, who had been a pupil of Rodin. In 1902 he became the friend, and for a time the secretary, of Rodin, and it was during his twelve-year Paris residence that Rilke enjoyed his greatest poetic activity. His first great work, Das Stunden Buch (The Book of Hours), appeared in 1906, followed in 1907 by Neue Gedichte (New Poems) and Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge (The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge). Rilke would continue to travel throughout his lifetime; to Italy, Spain and Egypt among many other places, but Paris would serve as the geographic center of his life, where he first began to develop a new style of lyrical poetry, influenced by the visual arts.
When World War I broke out, Rilke was obliged to leave France and during the war he lived in Munich. In 1919, he went to Switzerland where he spent the last years of his life. It was here that he wrote his last two works, the Duino Elegies (1923) and the Sonnets to Orpheus (1923). He died of leukemia on December 29, 1926. At the time of his death his work was intensely admired by many leading European artists, but was almost unknown to the general reading public. His reputation has grown steadily since his death, and he has come to be universally regarded as a master of verse.
Das Buch der Bilder (The Book of Images) (1902)
Das Stunden Buch (Book of Hours) (1905)
Neue Gedichte (New Poems) (1907)
Requiem (1909)
Das Marienleben (The Life of the Virgin Mary) (1913)
Die Sonette an Orpheus (Sonnets to Orpheus) (1923)
Duineser Elegen (Duino Elegies) (1923)
Späte Gedichte (Later Poems) (1934)
Poemes Francais (French Poems) (1935)
Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties (1975)
Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (1981)
New Poems (1984)
Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems (1985)
The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (1996)
Last updated August 31, 2011


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Inner City Traffic Management
City Traffic Management works with local builders and government bodies to make sure their ongoing project does not slow down the traffic flow around the site. We provide a wide range of traffic control solutions, which include fully trained staff as well as smartly designed signage, portable traffic lights, stop-and-go boards, etc. to divert pedestrians and vehicles away from the restricted area. To learn more about our services, visit our website. We are happy to tailor our services and traffic control solutions to your unique requirements. Call now in case you have a query.
Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, 14 miles (23 km) north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and Epping Forest in the east, with large sections forming part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. It borders Nazeing and Epping Upland to the north, Chingford to the south, Loughton, Theydon Bois and Buckhurst Hill to the east and south-east, and Waltham Cross, Cheshunt and Enfield to the west. Historically an ancient parish named Waltham Holy Cross in the Waltham hundred of Essex, it became a local government district in 1850, and was granted urban district status in 1894. Whilst the use of the name Waltham Abbey for the town dates back to the 16th century at the earliest, the parish itself was not renamed until 1974, when the Waltham Holy Cross Urban District was abolished and succeeded by Waltham Abbey Town Council.
Aldborough Hatch, Bridgewater Gardens, Brimsdown, Bullsmoor, Bush Fair, Castles Estate Agents, Chase Side, Chingford, Chingford Green, Chingford Mount, Claverings Industrial Estate, Clay Hill, Clayton Hill Lake, Coopersale, Coopersale Common


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VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a dimmable LED street light that consumes significantly less energy than current lighting systems, while improving the lighting characteristics. The street lights were tested in Helsinki with user experiences collected.
Traditional street lights work on full power when turned on, and the amount of light is not usually adjusted. The new LED street lights developed by VTT adapt to the ambient conditions with the help of sensors and wireless control, allowing them to be dimmed on the basis of natural light, environmental conditions (for example light reflected from snow) and the number of pedestrians. In order to maintain comfort, several characteristics important to road users, such as the amount and colour of light and the shape of the light beam, are considered in the luminaire design. Particular attention was paid to glare control, light distribution and sufficient lighting of road shoulders.
The intelligent street lighting system stores information on energy consumption, temperature, lighting level, and number of pedestrians, among others. According to laboratory measurements, the new LED street light is 50 per cent more energy-efficient than traditional lights on the market -- without the intelligence factored in. With lighting levels adjusted according to the number of users or to natural lighting conditions, an additional energy saving potential of 40 per cent with added intelligence has been observed. The developed lighting method is based on available components (for example, LEDs and sensors).
The street lights were tested along a pedestrian road in Helsinki, where initially a total of 20 reference street lights were installed. These represented five different luminaires on the market, three of which were LED luminaires and two others a traditional high pressure sodium and a metal halide lamp luminaire. Aalto University carried out a user survey in the pilot installation area, based on which VTT designed the new LED street light. Demo lights were installed at the end of 2012 as an extension of the first test installation, after which Aalto University carried out another survey on the experiences of the people using the road. The demo street light received the best feedback in the survey.
The AthLEDics project, funded by Tekes -- the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, research institutes and companies, is implemented by VTT and Aalto University, partnered by Alppilux, Helsingin Energia, the City of Helsinki, the City of Jyväskylä, Enerpoint, Ensto Finland, Hella Lighting Finland, Helvar, Herrmans, LumiChip, MTG-Meltron, Oplatek, Sabik, Senate Properties, Valopaa and YIT.
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Materials provided by Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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From Kazakhstan Encyclopedia
The Tatars are a Turkic people[1] living in Asia and Europe who were one of the five major tribal confederations (khanlig) in the Mongolian plateau in the 12th century CE. The name "Tatar" first appears in written form on the Kul Tigin monument as 𐱃𐱃𐰺 (TaTaR). Historically, the term "Tatars" was applied to a variety of Turco-Mongol semi-nomadic empires who controlled the vast region known as Tartary. More recently, however, the term refers more narrowly to people who speak one of the Turkic[1] languages.
The Mongol Empire, established under Genghis Khan in 1206, subjugated the Tatars. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan's grandson Batu Khan (c. 1207–1255), the Mongols moved westwards, driving with them many of the Mongol tribes toward the plains of Russia. The "Tatar" clan still exists among the Mongols and Hazaras.
The largest group by far that the Russians have called "Tatars" are the Volga Tatars, native to the Volga region (Tatarstan and Bashkortostan), who for this reason are often also simply known as "Tatars", with their language known as the Tatar language. Template:As of they had an estimated population close to 6 million.
The name "Tatar" likely originated amongst the nomadic Tatar confederation in the north-eastern Gobi desert in the 5th century.[2] The name "Tatar" was first recorded on the Orkhon inscriptions: Kul Tigin (CE 732) and Bilge Khagan (CE 735) monuments as 10px10px10px10px:10px10px10px:10px10px10px Otuz Tatar Bodun ('Thirty Tatar' tribe)[3] and 10px10px10px:10px10px10px Tokuz Tatar ('Nine Tatar')[4][5][6][7] referring to the Tatar confederation.
"Tatar" became a name for populations of the former Golden Horde in Europe, such as those of the former Kazan, Crimean, Astrakhan, Qasim, and Siberian Khanates. The form "Tartar" has its origins in either Latin or French, coming to Western European languages from Turkish and Persian (tātār, "mounted messenger"). From the beginning, the extra r was present in the Western forms, and according to the Oxford English Dictionary this was most likely due to an association with Tartarus.[8]
The Persian word is first recorded in the 13th century in reference to the hordes of Genghis Khan and is of unknown origin, according to OED "said to be" ultimately from tata, a name of the Mongols for themselves. The Arabic word for Tatars is تتار. Tatars themselves wrote their name as تاتار or طاطار. The Chinese term for Tatars was Dada 韃靼, especially after the end of the Yuan period (14th century), but also recorded as a term for Mongolian-speaking peoples of the northern steppes during the Tang period (8th century).[9] The name "Tatars" was used as an alternative term for the Shiwei, a nomadic confederation to which these Tatar people belonged.
Russians and Europeans used the name Tatar to denote Mongols as well as Turkic peoples under Mongol rule (especially in the Golden Horde). Later, it applied to any Turkic- or Mongolic-speaking people encountered by Russians. Eventually, however, the name became associated with the Turkic Muslims of Ukraine and Russia, namely the descendants of Muslim Volga Bulgars, Kipchaks, Cumans, and Turkicized Mongols or Turko-Mongols (Nogais), as well as other Turkic-speaking peoples (Siberian Tatars, Qasim Tatars, and Mishar Tatars)[10][11][12][13][14] in the territory of the former Russian Empire (and as such generally includes all Northwestern Turkic-speaking peoples).[15]
Nowadays Tatar is usually used to refer to the people, but Tartar is still almost always used for derived terms such as tartar sauce or steak tartare.[16]
All Turkic peoples living within the Russian Empire were named Tatar (as a Russian exonym). Some of these populations still use Tatar as a self-designation, others do not.[17]
- Kipchak groups
- Kipchak–Bulgar branch, or "Tatar" in the narrow sense
- Kipchak–Cuman branch
- Crimean Tatars
- Karachays and Balkars: Mountain Tatars
- Kumyks: Daghestan Tatars
- Kipchak–Nogai branch:
- Siberian branch:
- Siberian Tatars
- Altay people: Altay Tatars, including the Tubalar or Chernevo Tatars[18]
- Chulyms or Chulym Tatars
- Khakas people: Yenisei Tatars (also Abakan Tatars or Achin Tatars), still use the Tatar designation
- Shors: Kuznetsk Tatars
- Oghuz branch
- Azerbaijani people: Caucasus Tatars (also Transcaucasia Tatars or Azerbaijan Tatars)
The name Tatar is also an endonym to a number of Tungusic peoples of Siberia and Russian Far East, namely the Khakas people.
As various nomadic groups became part of Genghis Khan's army in the early 13th century, a fusion of Mongol and Turkic elements took place, and the invaders of Rus' and the Pannonian Basin became known to Europeans as Tatars or Tartars (see Tatar yoke).[2] After the breakup of the Mongol Empire, the Tatars became especially identified with the western part of the empire, known as the Golden Horde.[2]
The various Tatar khanates of the early modern period represent the remnants of the breakup of the Golden Horde and of its successor, the Great Horde. These include:
- the Khanate of Kazan (1438), conquered by the Tsardom of Russia in 1552, but continued as a Russian vassal state within the Qasim Khanate (established 1452), until 1681
- the Nogai Horde (1440s), conquered by Russia in 1634
- the Khanate of Crimea (1441), conquered by the Russian Empire in 1783
- the Kazakh Khanate (1456), gradual Russian conquest in the 18th century, but finally absorbed into the Russian Empire only in 1847
- the Khanate of Astrakhan (1466), conquered by Russia in 1556
- the Tyumen Khanate (1468, later Khanate of Sibir), conquered by the Tsardom of Russia in 1598
The Mongol dominance in Central Asia was absolute during the 14th and 15th centuries. The Crimean-Nogai raids into Russia aimed especially at the capture of slaves, most of whom were exported to the Ottoman Empire. The raids were an important drain of the human and economic resources of bothTemplate:Which countries. They largely prevented the settlement of the "Wild Fields" – the steppe and forest-steppe land that extends from a hundred or so miles south of Moscow to the Black Sea. The raids were also important in the development of the Cossacks.
The end of absolute Tatar dominance came in the late 15th century, heralded by the Great stand on the Ugra river in 1480. During the 16th through 18th centuries, the gradual expansion of Russia led to the absorption of the Tatar khanates into Russian territory. The Crimean Tatars attacked Russia in 1507, followed by two centuries of Russo-Crimean Wars for the Volga basin. Similarly, the Russo-Kazan Wars lasted for the best part of a century and ended with the Russian conquest of the Kazan khanate.
The last of the Tatar khanates, the Kazakhs, remained independent until 1822. Their last ruler, Kenesary Khan, was proclaimed khan of the Kazakhs when the Russian Empire was already fully in control of Kazakhstan; Russian law prohibited the Kazakhs from selecting their leader after 1822. The popular rise of Kenesary Khan was in defiance of Russian control of Kazakhstan, and his time as khan was spent on continuous fighting with the Russian imperial forces until his death in 1847.
Template:Further information Template:Further information The Tatar language together with the Bashkir language forms the Kypchak-Bolgar (also "Uralo-Caspian") group within the Kypchak languages, also known as Northwestern Turkic.
There are three Tatar dialects: Eastern, Central, Western.[19] The Western dialect (Misher) is spoken mostly by Mishärs, the Central dialect is spoken by Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars, and the Eastern (Sibir) dialect is spoken by Siberian Tatars in western Siberia. All three dialects have subdialects. Central Tatar is the base of literary Tatar.
These Siberian Tatar dialects are independent of Volga–Ural Tatar. The dialects are quite remote from Standard Tatar and from each other, often preventing mutual comprehension. The claim that this language is part of the modern Tatar language is typically supported by linguists in Kazan and denounced by Siberian Tatars.
Crimean Tatar[20] is the indigenous language of the Crimean Tatar peoples. Because of its common name, Crimean Tatar is sometimes mistaken to be a dialect of Kazan Tatar. Although these languages are related (as both are Turkic), the Kypchak languages closest to Crimean Tatar are (as mentioned above) Kumyk and Karachay-Balkar, not Kazan Tatar.
Contemporary groups
The majority of the Tatar population are Volga Tatars, native to the Volga region, and the Crimean Tatars of Crimea. There are smaller groups of Lipka Tatars and Astrakhan Tatars in Europe and the Siberian Tatars in Asia.
Volga Tatars
The present territory of Tatarstan was inhabited by the Volga Bulgars, who settled on the Volga river in the 7th century AD and converted to Islam in 922 during the missionary work of Ahmad ibn Fadlan.Template:Citation needed After the Mongol invasion, Volga Bulgaria was annexed by the Golden Horde. Most of the population survived, and there may have been a certain degree of mixing between it and the Kipchaks of the Horde during the ensuing period. The group as a whole accepted the exonym "Tatars" (finally in the end of the 19th century; although the name Bulgars persisted in some places; the majority identified themselves simply as the Muslims) and the language of the Kipchaks; on the other hand, the invaders eventually converted to Islam. As the Horde disintegrated in the 15th century, the area became the territory of the Kazan khanate, which was ultimately conquered by Russia in the 16th century.
Some Volga Tatars speak different dialects of Tatar language. Therefore, they form distinct groups such as the Mişär group and the Qasim group. Mişär-Tatars (or Mishars) are a group of Tatars speaking a dialect of the Tatar language. They live in Chelyabinsk, Tambov, Penza, Ryazan, Nizhegorodskaya oblasts of Russia and in Bashkortostan and Mordovia. They lived near and along the Volga River, in Tatarstan. The Western Tatars have their capital in the town of Qasím (Kasimov in Russian transcription) in Ryazan Oblast, with a Tatar population of 1100.Template:Citation needed A minority of Christianized Volga Tatars are known as Keräşens.
The Volga Tatars used the Turkic Old Tatar language for their literature between the 15th and 19th centuries. It was written in the İske imlâ variant of the Arabic script, but actual spelling varied regionally. The older literary language included a large number of Arabic and Persian loanwords. The modern literary language, however, often uses Russian and other European-derived words instead.
Outside of Tatarstan, urban Tatars usually speak Russian as their first language (in cities such as Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Tashkent, Almaty, and cities of the Ural and western Siberia) and other languages in a worldwide diaspora.
In the 1910s the Volga Tatars numbered about half a million in the Kazan Governorate in Tatarstan, their historical homeland, about 400,000 in each of the governments of Ufa, 100,000 in Samara and Simbirsk, and about 30,000 in Vyatka, Saratov, Tambov, Penza, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm and Orenburg. An additional 15,000 had migrated to Ryazan or were settled as prisoners in the 16th and 17th centuries in Lithuania (Vilnius, Grodno and Podolia). An additional 2000 resided in St. Petersburg.Template:Citation needed
Most Kazan Tatars practice Sunni Islam. The Kazan Tatars speak the Tatar language, a Turkic language with a substantial amount of Russian and Arabic loanwords.
Before 1917, polygamy was practicedTemplate:Citation needed only by the wealthier classes and was a waning institution.
There is an ethnic nationalist movement among Kazan Tatars that stresses descent from the Bulgars and is known as Bulgarism – there have been graffiti on the walls in the streets of Kazan with phrases such as "Bulgaria is alive" (Булгария жива)
A significant number of Volga Tatars emigrated during the Russian Civil War, mostly to Turkey and Harbin, China. According to the Chinese government, there are still 5,100 Tatars living in Xinjiang province.
Crimean Tatars
The number of Crimean Tatars is estimated at 650,000. The Crimean Tatars emerged as a nation at the time of the Crimean Khanate. The Crimean Khanate was a Turkic-speaking Muslim state that was among the strongest powers in Eastern Europe until the beginning of the 18th century.[21]
The nobles and rulers of the Crimean Tatars were the descendants of Hacı I Giray, a Jochid descendant of Genghis Khan, and of Batu Khan of the Mongol Golden Horde.Template:Citation needed The Crimean Tatars mostly adopted Islam in the 14th century and thereafter Crimea became one of the centers of Islamic civilization. The Khanate was officially a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire with great autonomy after 1448. The Russo-Turkish War (1768–74) resulted in the defeat of the Ottomans by the Russians, and according to the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) signed after the war, Crimea became independent and Ottomans renounced their political right to protect the Crimean Khanate. After a period of political unrest in Crimea, Russia violated the treaty and annexed the Crimean Khanate in 1783.
The Crimean Tatars are subdivided into three sub-ethnic groups: the Tats (not to be confused with Tat people, living in the Caucasus region) who used to inhabit the mountainous Crimea before 1944 (about 55%), the Yalıboyu who lived on the southern coast of the peninsula (about 30%), and the Noğay (about 15%).
Crimean Tatars in Romania and Bulgaria
Template:Further information Crimean Tatars have been present on the territory of today's Romania and Bulgaria since the 13th century. In Romania, according to the 2002 census, 24,000 people declared their ethnicity as Tatar, most of them being Crimean Tatars living in Constanța County in the region of Dobruja. The Crimean Tatars were colonized there by the Ottoman Empire beginning in the 17th century.
Lipka Tatars
The Lipka Tatars are a group of Turkic-speaking Tatars who originally settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the beginning of the 14th century. The first settlers tried to preserve their shamanistic religion and sought asylum amongst the non-Christian Lithuanians.[22] Towards the end of the 14th century, another wave of Tatars—Muslims, this time—were invited into the Grand Duchy by Vytautas the Great. These Tatars first settled in Lithuania proper around Vilnius, Trakai, Hrodna and Kaunas[22] and later spread to other parts of the Grand Duchy that later became part of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. These areas comprise present-day Lithuania, Belarus and Poland. From the very beginning of their settlement in Lithuania they were known as the Lipka Tatars.
From the 13th to 17th centuries various groups of Tatars settled and/or found refuge within the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. This was promoted especially by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania because of their reputation as skilled warriors. The Tatar settlers were all granted szlachta (nobility) status, a tradition that was preserved until the end of the Commonwealth in the 18th century. They included the Lipka Tatars (13th–14th centuries) as well as Crimean and Nogay Tatars (15th–16th centuries), all of which were notable in Polish military history, as well as Volga Tatars (16th–17th centuries). They all mostly settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Various estimates of the number of Tatars in the Commonwealth in the 17th century are about 15,000 persons and 60 villages with mosques. Numerous royal privileges, as well as internal autonomy granted by the monarchs, allowed the Tatars to preserve their religion, traditions, and culture over the centuries. The Tatars were allowed to intermarry with Christians, which was uncommon in Europe at the time. The May Constitution of 1791 gave the Tatars representation in the Polish Sejm.
Although by the 18th century the Tatars adopted the local language, the Islamic religion and many Tatar traditions (e.g. the sacrifice of bulls in their mosques during the main religious festivals) were preserved. This led to formation of a distinctive Muslim culture, in which the elements of Muslim orthodoxy mixed with religious tolerance formed a relatively liberal society. For instance, the women in Lipka Tatar society traditionally had the same rights and status as men, and could attend non-segregated schools.
About 5,500 Tatars lived within the inter-war boundaries of Poland (1920–1939), and a Tatar cavalry unit had fought for the country's independence. The Tatars had preserved their cultural identity and sustained a number of Tatar organisations, including a Tatar archives and a museum in (Vilnius).
The Tatars suffered serious losses during World War II and furthermore, after the border change in 1945, a large part of them found themselves in the Soviet Union. It is estimated that about 3000 Tatars live in present-day Poland, of which about 500 declared Tatar (rather than Polish) nationality in the 2002 census. There are two Tatar villages (Bohoniki and Kruszyniany) in the north-east of present-day Poland, as well as urban Tatar communities in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Białystok, and Gorzów Wielkopolski. Tatars in Poland sometimes have a Muslim surname with a Polish ending: Ryzwanowicz; another surname sometimes adopted by more assimilated Tatars is Tatara or Tataranowicz or Taterczyński, which literally mean "son of a Tatar".
The Tatars were relatively noticeable in the Commonwealth military as well as in Polish and Lithuanian political and intellectual life for such a small community.Template:Citation needed In modern-day Poland, their presence is also widely known, due in part to their noticeable role in the historical novels of Henryk Sienkiewicz, which are universally recognized in Poland. A number of Polish intellectual figures have also been Tatars, e.g. the prominent historian Jerzy Łojek.
A small community of Polish-speaking Tatars settled in Brooklyn, New York City, in the early 20th century. They established a mosque that is still in use today.Template:Citation needed
Astrakhan Tatars
The Astrakhan Tatars (around 80,000) are a group of Tatars, descendants of the Astrakhan Khanate's nomadic population, who live mostly in Astrakhan Oblast. For the Russian census in 2010, most Astrakhan Tatars declared themselves simply as Tatars and few declared themselves as Astrakhan Tatars. A large number of Volga Tatars live in Astrakhan Oblast and differences between them have been disappearing.
Siberian Tatars
The Siberian Tatars occupy three distinct regions—a strip running west to east from Tobolsk to Tomsk—the Altay and its spurs—and South Yeniseisk. They originated in the agglomerations of various indigenous North Asian stems that, in the region north of the Altay, reached some degree of culture between the 4th and 5th centuries, but were subdued and enslaved by the Mongols. The 2010 census recorded 6,779 Siberian Tatars in Russia. According to the 2002 census there are 500,000 Tatars in Siberia, but 400,000 of them are Volga Tatars who settled in Siberia during periods of colonization.[23]
According to over 100 samples from the Tatarstan DNA project, the most common Y-DNA haplogroup of the ethnic Volga Tatars is Haplogroup R1a (over 20%), predominantly from the Asian R1a-Z93 subclade.[24] Haplogroup N is the other significant haplogroup. According to different data J2a or J2b may be the more common subclade of Haplogroup J2 in Volga Tatars. The haplogroups C and Q are among the rare haplogroups.
Haplogroups of 450 Tatars, summarized from the studies Rootsi 2007, Tambets 2004, Balanovsky in prep., Wells 2001[25]
- N1c2: 21,0%
- R1a: 19,0%
- N1c1: 13,0%
- R1b1b2: 6,0%
- E1b1a: 4,0%
- I2a1: 2,8%
- I2a2: 1,8%
Haplogroups in Volga Tatars(122 samples):[26]
- G2a: 2%
- I2a1: 5%
- I2a2: 2%
- J2a: 7%
- J2b: 2%
- N1c2: 9%
- N1c1: 16%
- R1a: 33% (Z282: 19%, Z93: 14%)
Haplogroups in Crimean Tatars(22 samples):[27]
According to Mylyarchuk et al. "It was found that mitochondrial gene pool of the Volga Tatars consists of two parts, but western Eurasian component prevails considerably (84% on average) over eastern Asian one (16%)." among 197 Kazan Tatars and Mishans.[28]
The study of Suslova et al found indications of two non-Kipchak sources of admixture, Finno-Ugric and Bulgar: "Together with Tatars, Russians have high frequencies of allele families and haplotypes characteristic of Finno-Ugric populations. This presupposes a Finno-Ugric impact on Russian and Tatar ethnogenesis.... Some aspects of HLA in Tatars appeared close to Chuvashes and Bulgarians, thus supporting the view that Tatars may be descendents of ancient Bulgars."[29]
- Nogai flag.svg
Flag of Nogai Khan
- Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg
Flag of the Crimean Tatars
- Golden Horde flag 1339.svg
Golden Horde flag
- Tatar women of the Caucasus, Russian Empire, ca. 1895.jpg
Tatar women of the Caucasus
- RIAN archive 320886 Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov in the Kul Sharif Mosque during his visit to Tatarstan.jpg
Mintimer Shaimiyev (left), the president of the republic of Tatarstan, in the Qolşärif Mosque, Kazan, with Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow (right)
- Tatar.jpg
Tatar elder and his horse.
- Sloane-Tatar.jpg
Tatar in Ottoman service.
- Marco Polo - costume tartare.jpg
Marco polo wearing Tatar outfit
- Tatar woman XVIII century.jpg
Tatar woman
- Markov EL Tatar girl 1890.jpg
Tatar woman
- Costumes de Differents Pays, 'Femme Tatar Tobolsk' LACMA M.83.190.220.jpg
Tatar woman
- Costumes de Differents Pays, 'Femme Tatar Kastchintz' LACMA M.83.190.226.jpg
Tatar woman
- Markov EL Tatar shepherd-boy 1972.jpg
Tatar shepherd-boy
- Circassians, Tatars, Turkic people, Zaurnåa.jpg
- Lithuanian Tatars of Napoleonic army.JPG
Lithuanian Tatars of Napoleonic army
- Tatar de Khourzouk. Grove, Florence Craufurd. Le Caucase. 1899. P.16.png
Tatar elder
- Soyembika.jpg
Tatar family
- Siberia Tartar Woman, Kalmucks.JPG
Siberian Tatars
- Nicolae Tonitza - Rachiş Ali, Balcic 1936.jpg
Tatar girl
- Vasnetsov Tatary Idut.jpg
Tatars' raid on Moscow
- Kalmyk and kuban tatar2.jpg
Tatar riders
- Recovery of Tartar captives.PNG
Recovery of Tatar captives.
- Yeget-1.jpg
Tatar costumes.
- Франц Рубо - Татарский всадник.jpg
Tatar rider
- MarkovEL Akmulla 1872.jpg
Tatar elder inviting guests.
- Markov EL Suuksu 1872.jpg
Tatar horsemen
- Ryszkiewicz Tatars in the vanguard.jpg
Tatars in the vanguard of the Ottoman army
- Qur'an book made by tartars.JPG
Quran of the Tatars.
- Borongi bolgarlar Gaziz cover.jpg
Cover page of Tatar Yana imla book, printed with Separated Tatar language in Arabic script in 1924.
- Хальфин Азбука татарского языка 1778.pdf
A Tatar alphabet book printed in 1778. Arabic script is used, Cyrillic text is in Russian. Хальфин, Сагит. Азбука татарского языка. — М., 1778. — 52 с.
- Nizhny-Novgorod-Mosque-inscription-C0274.jpg
Tatar sign on a madrasah in Nizhny Novgorod, written in both Persian and Cyrilic Tatar scripts.
See also
External links
Template:Turkic peoples
Template:European Muslims
Template:Ethnic groups of Russia
Template:Authority control
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Beautiful double bar necklace with blue and white synthetic sapphires in 10k white gold. Such a great look! New and unworn. Chair length is approx 18", blue bar is approx 1.5", white bar is approx 1" long. Looks much more expensive!
weight approx 3.6g
Please understand that almost everything I sell is either preloved, vintage or antique - it is highly unlikely that it will be in new condition. Everything I sell is sold as is. Gold may be scuffed, stones may show wear and be slightly loose at times, patina will often be left in tact. I will endeavor to list any defects that are significant but understand I may miss something that you consider important. Please ask any and all questions prior to purchase - I am always happy to discuss my pieces.
This item will ship fully insured with signature confirmation (within the USA).
All sales are governed by the policies outlined in our policies page.


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- Rye Bread – Filled with iron and lots of nutrients, rye bread helps to deliver fresh oxygen to brain cells, keeping you alert and energized
- Avocado – The monounsaturated fat in this healthy food helps to keep healthy oxygen flowing
- Onions – Sulfur found in onions can increase blood flow and circulation, both essential for energy
- Apple with a smear of peanut butter –This energizing combo of fiber-rich carbohydrates and protein takes longer to digest than eating carbs alone, therefore maintaining elevated energy longer
- Original Yogurt Honey Peanut Balance Bar®– This nutrition bar (as with all Balance Bars) also has energizing benefits, providing a balance of calories between carbs, protein and fat for long-lasting energy
- Take a walk together before dinner
- Reservations are easy.Make dinner instead. Even if you don't know how. In fact, even better if you don't know how. You are trying. You are taking time. You are putting some effort in.
- Bought bouquets are nice. But just a simple flower is sweeter, especially if you were driving or walking down the street, spotted one, and it made you spontaneously think of a loved one.
- Stop at a card shop and buy a dozen little cards. Then, once a week, hide a simple "I love you" note in a closed laptop, a coat pocket, a travel bag – somewhere you know it will be spotted.
- Meet up on a certain corner at a specific time and take off from there.
- Pick a house – yours or theirs, as the meeting spot, then walk from the house.
- Choose a favorite hiking trail, beach walk or scenic local spot and start from there.
- If you live close to each other, decide to leave your houses at the exact same time and meet somewhere in the middle, then walk a new route together.
- Make the hour even happier by bringing along a Dark Chocolate Crunch Balance Bar®. It will sustain you through your walk and you'll feel like you're eating dessert first (without the calorie-dense guilt).
I just adore the bars, they remind me of delicious candy bars, they seem too good to be true! If I had to choose a favorite I would have to choose the Dark Chocolate Crunch bar, because who does not love chocolate? Well I sure do, and this bar realty has a crunch chocolaty flavor. So if you are looking to eat healthier in 2013 I would highly suggest Balance Bars you will surely love them as much as I love them.
Susan S. Disclosure: The reviews and or opinions on this blog are my own opinions . I received bars to review. No monitory compensation was received. I was not required to write a positive review. Your experience may differ. The opinions I have expressed are my own I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsement and Testimonials in Advertising .


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Kyle Larson
June 18, 2014
Key to the City Recipient
"It's an honor to be recognized by Mayor Davis, the Elk Grove City Council and residents of Elk Grove," said Kyle Larson. "When I started racing go-karts around Elk Grove I always hoped to end up in NASCAR, but knew it would take a lot of time and effort to get there. Although my racing frequently took me out of town, I'm proud to call Elk Grove home and proud to represent the city when I race. Being the first Elk Grove native to be recognized with a Key to the City is really special, and I look forward to giving the people here more to cheer about in the future." Born on July 13, 1992, Larson is a native of Elk Grove and a graduate of Pleasant Grove High School, and has been racing since he was seven. Despite his young age, Larson has built an extensive and impressive racing resume, with more than 200 race victories over the series in which he has raced.


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Eko for show!: Postfeminist spectacular meets Lagos
When: | Wednesday, 23 May 2018 - Wednesday, 23 May 2018 |
Where: | Braamfontein Campus East Seminar Room, Humanities Graduate Centre, Southwest Engineering Building |
Start time: | 13:15 |
Enquiries: | email@example.com / 011 717-7914 |
The Wits Media Studies Department will host this lunchtime research seminar with Dr Simidele Dosekun from University of Sussex.
'Eko for show' is a rhyming Nigerian expression that brands the city of Lagos - 'Eko,' in Yoruba - a showy and flamboyant place, its citizens given to spectacle, over-invested in appearances, competitively seeking to impress and indeed 'oppress' through visual and material display. This talk maps and surfaces the city in the postfeminist self-fashioning and self-representation of a set of elite Lagos women, showing how, including in its cosmopolitanism, a new transnational style of femininity makes particular local - Lagosian - sense. Dosekun is a lecturer in media and cultural studies at the University of Sussex. Her forthcoming monograph is on the fashioning of postfeminist subjectivities in Lagos.
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4 Steps: Cancel Plans
4 Steps: Cancel Plans
Page 1 of 2
Maybe the only thing worse then having nothing to do on a given night is having something to do when you'd rather be doing something else or nothing at all. The most appealing option is to get out of your plans, but depending on the inconvenience it might cause, this isn't always easy. For that we've put together a four-step plan to cancel plans.Now, the following steps only apply to a somewhat narrow set of circumstances, namely a last-minute cancellation that your buddies will give you grief for (not without justification, of course). In other words, this is not the polite way to cancel plans; these four steps to cancel plans won't be getting endorsements from etiquette experts or being taught at finishing schools.
It is, however, a practical way to go about it — a way that should allow you to cancel plans without losing a friend in the process.
step 1
Craft a sympathetic excuse
Of course, your excuse is key: It should be incontrovertible, and self-explanatory, yet slightly vague. This step to cancel plans will defend it's self as a reason for cancellation, and it doesn't establish specifics that you're bound to forget later.The common temptation is to frame your excuse in such a way as to redirect sympathy from the other person to yourself. For example, while they may be inconvenienced by your cancellation, just imagine what you're having to go through when you tell them your Nonna just passed away. We think this approach to cancel plans might be a bit too played out, and it's not nice to make them feel sorry for you when you're just being a lazy bum and don't want to leave the house.
Instead, consider pinning your cancellation on a last-minute work or family obligation, drawing from details you don't really need to fabricate: you've been asked to entertain a client and really shouldn't say no or your relative has this thing you need to attend to and it's not a long story, but it is a boring one so they should just leave it at that.
step 2
Cancel via text
Text etiquette is evolving and while we're trying to keep up with the technology, we don't need a sourcebook on manners to know that texting a cancellation is rude: It requires minimal effort and it will arrive without any ostensible sincerity (like the kind your voice could bring). That said, most of the people who would be offended by this etiquette breach to cancel plans are probably also people who don't text in the first place (yes, there are still people in the world who don't text).In lieu of texting, the next-best option is to leave a voice message when you want to cancel plans, which shares the same mentality as canceling by text — avoiding direct dialog as much as possible. There is a very good reason why criminal defendants don't take the witness stand in their own defense: The likelihood of incriminating one's self, simply by talking too much, is an unnecessary risk. When, on the phone, your friend begins cross-examining you and your excuse for canceling, you get ever closer to being exposed.
These next two steps to cancel plans will make sure you still have a social life the following weekend...
Social skills


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The Customer Service Center handles inquiries for every department in the City of Taylor except Taylor Police, Taylor Fire and the Taylor Community Library.
We are located on the first floor of the Municipal Building 23555 Goddard Road at Pine St., just off of the main atrium on the first floor. Our hours are 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
The center can be reached by calling (734) 287-6550 or visiting in person. The staff assists hundreds of customers daily for every department within the City of Taylor except Fire, Police, and the Library.
Agents answering calls do their very best to accommodate each customer with in a timely fashion. Some calls require more detail than other calls, so please be patient during certain times of the year.
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With decaying flesh and a craving for human brains, our womens zombie Halloween costumes will be ready to terrify this year. Be a school girl or bride with a living dead vibe or maybe just go pure with a zombie costume covered in blood. It is time to emerge from the grave as everyone's new favorite horror character in our womens zombie costumes at Spirit Halloween.